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Democracy and religion : a study in Quakerism / by G. von Schulze-Gaevernitz
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for every human being the highest goal of life,attainable in his best moments, is the experienceof Jesus : "I and my Father are one."

The Quaker seeks the proof of discipleship notin a credo but in the undertone pervading the life.Joy, peace, goodwill (Freude, Friede, Freundschaft )radiate from the eye of the true disciple towhatever confession he belongsj oy in the heart,peace with the world, friendship with all lifewhether of man or beast. He will prove that heholds the " true ring " by that spirit out of which" works " flow and through those results whichcannot but come when we surrender our own selfand become the tool of the divine will. In thissense, Jesus was the victor on the Cross whoamidst the dreadful earthly catastrophe could say" the goal is reached," the great divide of historywas built.

With their belief in the Inner Light, Quakersdeepen the protestam idea of freedom. The InnerLight is independent of any authority, of saintsand prophets, of any event of the past. It isindependent also of the written word of the Bible.The Reformers offered a book and did not dareto take the final step and place the truth of thatbook in conscience as the final arbiter. Theofficial reformation bound the human will to eviland thereby made the doctrine of predestinationinevitable. For the Quaker, man is free to choosethe evil but also the good. For him as for Kant, freedom is the guarantee of our divine origin.For him as for Goethe the " original good " isrooted as deeply in the human nature as the